


pretty marks

by manghoe



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Parent Zuko (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Zuko's Scar (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25903945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manghoe/pseuds/manghoe
Summary: “Well, I have to do everything I can to help Druk get his dragon family back. After all, he’s your best friend, isn’t he?” Zuko gently teases his daughter, who, true to form, starts getting worked up about it in the sweetest way.“No, daddy! Druk’s like my funny big brother. You’re my best friend, Daddy! Especially because you’re the one who tells me bedtime stories,” she says in a very non-subtle way, prompting Zuko to chuckle as he settles her under her blanket.“Ok, sweetheart, I think I can take the hint. What story do you want today, hmm?”(or, the one where baby Izumi surprises her loving father.)
Relationships: Izumi & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 302





	pretty marks

**Author's Note:**

> this is pretty much a spin on the common idea of Izumi talking about her dad's scar! she's five in this, so she doesn't actually find out how it happened, but the scar is a major theme near the ending, so this is not the fic for you if you would find that triggering. not really any content warnings, just the standard implied/referenced abuse when it comes to our zuko :( and a brief mention of vomit. i didn't really specify any relationships in this, so feel free to imagine whomever you would like in the place of izumi's other parent :) i hope you enjoy!!

Zuko briskly walks through the halls of the palace, an exhausted smile adorning his kind face as he nods greetings at the palace staff he passes. After a long day of work as the Fire Lord, full of council meetings, paperwork, and welcoming diplomats from the Earth Kingdom, he’s finally able to rest for the night, and he has only one destination in mind. The last time he saw his daughter was at lunch, and the hours of separation already feel like forever.

“Daddy!” His little girl runs up to him, clearly too impatient for him to make his way to her room to tuck her in for the night. Zuko gives her a big smile and lifts her up into his arms as she reaches him. 

“Hi, baby. Did you have a good day today? How was your training after lunch?” Izumi’s just started firebending training, as she produced her first flames a month ago, just a little while after her fifth birthday. Zuko’s proud of his daughter for starting firebending training so early, but he can’t help but worry about her when she’s training with the other firebending children from her school. He produced his first flame late, at the age of seven, much later than Azula, who had already started her first intermediate kata by the time he could create meager sparks. Even though Izumi seems naturally talented, he never wants his daughter to feel inadequate in comparison to her peers the way he did. 

“It was so fun, Daddy! Sifu Rin taught us how to make a little flame from our breath! And it was just like you and Grandpa Iroh do it!” The general excitement Izumi has for most things, from firebending training to feeding the turtleducks to tea parties with her father and granduncle, is one of Zuko’s great joys in life. He carries Izumi into her room, smiling at Yuki and Ming, the two guards posted at the door who can’t keep the smiles off their faces hearing Izumi chattering to her father.

“Like this?” He blows a small flame from his mouth just to earn more of the darling giggles from his daughter that never fail to improve his mood. She hums her assent before continuing, “And then, Sifu Mizuki told us all about dragons! Dragons, daddy, just like Druk! She said they used to be everywhere but then they weren’t because some very bad people like Fire Lord Sozin didn’t like how big and strong they were, but now they’re coming back. Because of you, daddy!” 

This is another thing Zuko has worked hard to change in the Fire Nation. Ending the war doesn’t make a difference in the attitudes of the general populace if they are still taught the same propaganda and lies about the other nations and alternative versions of what really happened in the war. Of course, children of Izumi’s age don’t learn about the depths of horror and violence that were perpetuated, but they learn the truth of what happened and the origins of firebending so that what Sozin did to the dragons may never take place again. Zuko’s happy to see the new curriculum implemented at his daughter’s school and across the Nation, and he can’t wait to show his daughter the rainbow dragon’s breath firebending forms he’s been working on with Aang.

“Well, I have to do everything I can to help Druk get his dragon family back. After all, he’s your best friend, isn’t he?” Zuko gently teases his daughter, who, true to form, starts getting worked up about it in the sweetest way.

“No, daddy! Druk’s like my funny big brother. You’re my best friend, Daddy! Especially because you’re the one who tells me bedtime stories,” she says in a very non-subtle way, prompting Zuko to chuckle as he settles her under her blanket. 

“Ok, sweetheart, I think I can take the hint. What story do you want today, hmm?” She almost always asks for stories from the war about her father and his best friends, and tonight is no exception. 

“Daddy, I wanna hear about when you and Uncle Aang saw the dragons for the first time!” Zuko privately thinks that this must be a personal favorite of hers, as he tells it more than any other, and this request was no doubt brought on by her lesson on dragons today. Nevertheless, he tells the story with the same enthusiasm he did the very first time, and she oohs and aahs and gasps at the appropriate moments, acting like she’s never heard this story before. She’s already yawning by the time he gets to the part with him and Aang climbing the steps to meet the Masters, and by the time he finishes, she’s sleepily blinking her eyes. 

“I think it’s time to go to sleep, Izumi.” She clearly wants to protest but can’t give a response between her yawning. He presses a kiss to her forehead, ready to settle her to sleep and leave to get ready to sleep himself, before she catches his wrist in her small hand.

“Daddy, can I tell you something?” She doesn’t usually try to talk about anything more after her bedtime stories, content to fall asleep imagining her father and aunts and uncles on the adventures from his stories, so he’s immediately shocked.

“Go ahead, baby. You can tell me anything,” he replies.

“Do you remember Akio? I think I told you about him before.” When he nods, she goes on, “Today, he told me he thought I was pretty. And it was so icky, but he was nice, so I said thank you. It was just so weird, daddy! I mean, maybe I think Akio is pretty, but I’m not gonna tell him that.” 

His instantaneous reaction is to narrow his eyes at the idea of little boys already crushing on his young daughter, but that’s not really helpful in this situation. So he says, “Well, you are very pretty, Izumi. Maybe he was just noticing and thought you would like to hear it. But you should tell me if he starts to bother you, okay?” 

She nods a little, clearly in thought, before brightening and exclaiming, “You’re so pretty, Daddy. I wanna be pretty just like you one day.” He cracks a small smile, bemused at this seemingly out of nowhere statement. He teasingly questions her, “Is that so? What about Auntie Katara or Auntie Azula?”

“They’re really pretty too! But they don’t have pretty marks like you, daddy!”

Zuko stares at her for a second before he understands, and it’s like the world has dropped from under his feet. He maintains that she’s far too young to learn how he got his scar, and if he had it his way, he would never tell her, to spare her from the pain of understanding what hate can drive family to do to each other. She’s asked him before why her aunts and uncles don’t have scars, clearly believing it was something all adults had but becoming confused when he had simply told her that he wasn’t born like that and he had gotten hurt before. She hasn’t yet figured out that the scar is a burn mark.

He’s come to terms with his scar- it was cruel and it was wrong, but that doesn’t mean he loves to see it every day, a persistent reminder of the hate his father had carried for him. His friends occasionally try to talk to him about this when it comes up, attempting to convince him that it isn’t ugly, that it isn’t a sign of dishonor, but he still struggles with such a visible scar broadcasted to the whole world. What he doesn’t tell them is that the scar is a constant source of fear for him- fear of turning into his father.

Zuko already has nearly monthly nightmares about the Agni Kai chamber, himself in Ozai’s place, and Izumi kneeling in front of him and begging the same way that he did. He has other nightmares too, mostly about the war and his father, but this recurring nightmare shakes him up like no other. Imagining Izumi with a brand across her face like him is nearly driving him to want to vomit right now. The idea of Izumi looking at him and feeling an ounce of fear is shaking him down to his bones.

He reaches up to touch the scar and finally responds, “I don’t know about that, sweetheart.” He’s lost for words in a way he never has been in front of his daughter.

“Well, daddy, I think it’s really pretty! It makes you look different from everyone else! And the color is so nice with your eyes! I promise, daddy, I would never lie to you.” He softens at his daughter’s heartfelt and sincere tone, and her clear belief in that statement is enough to hammer away at his conviction that the scar is an ugly, hateful thing.

“Maybe so, Izumi. Thank you for saying that. But you don’t have to worry about being pretty- my little turtleduck, you are already the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“I know, daddy. Where do you think I get it from?” And within seconds of that cheeky little statement, no doubt something she picked up from one of her troublemaker classmates, she finally falls asleep. He huffs out a little laugh, gently placing his hand on his daughter’s left cheek, stroking his thumb across her cheekbone. She looks remarkably like he did as a child and in turn, that means she looks very much like his mother. After spending a few moments lost in thought, he leans down to press a kiss to her hair and gets up to go to his own chambers to get some rest for the night. He has a feeling, though, that he’ll stay up a little later than he planned to. His daughter’s given him a lot to think about.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave kudos and/or comments if you enjoyed! i love to hear from everyone :) this is the first fic i've written in 4 years but the resurgence of avatar has left me inspired so you'll be hearing a lot more from me as this was the first idea i got to on my masterlist of avatar fic ideas lol. until next time!!


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